Las Cruces pecan conference draws more than 400 attendees

Steve MacIntyre — For the Sun-News
Pecan growers John Bridges, left, Chris Archer and Ryan Jaramillo talk next to Archer's sorter — which removes pecans with defects — Monday in the parking lot of Hotel Encanto during the 48th annual Western Pecan Growers Association Conference.

LAS CRUCES >> Hotel Encanto was ground zero for all things pecan Monday, as 420 farmers, experts and business people gathered for a yearly conference in Las Cruces.

The event drew attendees from New Mexico, west Texas, Georgia, Oklahoma and Mexico, among other places, said organizer John White. One of the prominent debates taking place related to whether a federal surcharge should be imposed on pecan sales to benefit pecan marketing nationally, White said. Some members of the industry are in favor of the idea, but others are opposed, he said.

"It's kind of a controversial issue," he said.

An ongoing drought in New Mexico, pecan processing and food safety and weed management were other topics on the radar at the 48th annual Western Pecan Growers Association Conference.

Plenty of Doña Ana County pecan growers, who just wound down their harvest season, were among the crowd.

Fred Acosta of Chamberino said he grows pecans and supplies fertilizer through a business, Crop Production Services, in Vado. He said he attends each year to see customers and friends and hear the latest pecan industry updates on issues such as tree pruning, water and herbicides.

"The herbicides have become a big deal," he said. "These weeds are becoming more and more resistant."

The three-day conference started Sunday afternoon with a pecan baked goods competition and early registration. But it got underway in earnest Monday morning with a series of educational workshops throughout the day and about 70 vendor booths on display. Attendees milled the halls during breaks, talking business and trading information.

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Bill Lindemann, a soil science expert from New Mexico State University, said he gave a presentation taking a look at two different methods of applying fertilizer. In addition to the formal workshops, he said, farmers learn tips from one another — "the body of knowledge that is not in books" — on how to improve their pecan operations.

Overall, Lindemann said the event is well-run and deals with a lot of topics relevant to pecan growers.

"They look ahead," he said. "They're looking to solve problems before they are detrimental to the industry."

James McCray of the San Francisco Bay Area, said he attended because he's an investor in a pecan farm in San Simon, Ariz.

Asked about what he's hoping to get from the event, McCray replied: "It's meeting people face to face and getting caught up on the issues. Mostly it's education."

A showcase of pecan harvesting and cleaning machines and other equipment filled the east parking lot of Hotel Encanto.

Doña Ana County horticulture extension agent Jeff Anderson said attendees got updates on the latest insect pests. Some of them haven't even reached New Mexico yet, but growers are hoping to be proactive and keep them away, he said. There's a species of termite, for instance, that's been found in east Texas. It winds up entering a tree from below and munching its way up through the trunk before farmers even realize there's a problem. Another species, a type of ant, promotes the growth of aphids, a detrimental insect to pecan trees, he said.

Anderson said the message to farmers was to be careful about transporting items from regions that have these pests.

"There has been a real drive trying to keep the problems of the East from coming to the West," he said.

NMSU master's degree student Tiffany Johnson said there are a couple of aphid pests that are here in New Mexico. Black pecan aphids feed on pecan tree leaves, leaving permanent damage. That interferes with trees' photosynthesis, a key plant process, she said.

Still, "one of the nice things about growing pecans locally is that we have very few pests compared to other" pecan-growing regions of the country, she said.